Renting Your Home or Vacation Home

If you own a home in a vacation locale – whether it is your primary residence or a vacation home – and are considering renting it out to others, there are complicated tax rules referred to as the “vacation home rental rules” that you need to be aware of.

Generally, the tax code breaks a “vacation rental” into three categories, each with a different treatment for income and expenses:

• Rented Fewer than 15 Days – If you rent your home for fewer than 15 days during the tax year, the tax code says that you do not need to report the income and that you can still deduct 100% of the property taxes and qualified mortgage interest as an itemized deduction. Yes, you heard me correctly: the government is actually allowing you to ignore the income, regardless of the amount, if you rent the home for fewer than 15 days during the year. This rule offers some opportunities for substantial tax-free income, especially for more expensive homes. Here are some examples:
  o Rental as a film location – Typically, film production companies will pay substantial amounts (thousands per day) for the short-term use of homes as movie sets. Individuals with unique properties can register with a local film location company.

  o Home in a vacation locale – Individuals with homes in popular tourist or vacation locales can rent their homes out to vacationers in their area while they are on vacation themselves.

  o Home in the area of a special event – When a one-time or special event such as a major sports event (think the Super Bowl) or convention comes to town, hotel rooms may be scarce or even fill up. Homeowners in these locations may want to rent their homes short-term during the activity while getting out of town to avoid the crowds.

However, be careful – if the rental goes over 14 days, the income is no longer tax-free. When calculating the number of days, the definition of a day is generally “the 24-hour period” for which a day’s rental would be paid. Thus, a person using a dwelling unit from Saturday afternoon through the following Saturday morning would generally be treated as having used the unit for seven days even though the person was on the premises on eight calendar days.

Even though the income is tax-free, the property tax and interest for the period is still deductible, directly related rental expenses such as agent fees, utilities, post-rental cleaning, etc. are not deductible.

• Rented 15 Days or More – When the home is rented 15 days or more, the income must be reported. However, the tax treatment depends upon how many days you used the home personally:
  o Personal Use More Than 10% of the Rental Days – In this scenario, no rental tax loss is allowed. Let’s assume that the personal use of the home is 20%. As for the remaining 80%, it is used as a rental. The rental income is first reduced by 80% of the taxes and interest; if, after deducting the interest and taxes, there is still a profit, the direct rental expenses (such as the rental portion of the utilities, insurance and any other direct rental expenses) are deducted, but not more than will offset the remaining income. If there is still a profit, you can take depreciation, but it is again limited to the remaining profit. End result: No loss is allowed, but any remaining profit is taxable. The other personal 20% of the interest and taxes is deducted as an itemized deduction subject to mortgage interest and Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) limitations. Take note that if the rental income becomes less than the business portion of the interest and taxes, the balance of the interest and taxes is still deductible as home mortgage interest and taxes.

  o Personal Use 10% or Fewer of the Rental Days – In this scenario, the home’s use would be allocated into two separate activities, a rental and a second home. Let’s say that the home is used 5% for personal use: 5% of the interest and taxes are treated as home interest and taxes that can be deducted as an itemized deduction. The other 95% of the interest and taxes are rental expenses, combined with 95% of the insurance, utilities, and allowable depreciation and 100% of the direct rental expenses. The result is a deductible tax loss, which is combined with all other rental activities and limited to a $25,000 loss per year for taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes (AGI) of $100,000 or less. This loss allowance is ratably phased out between $100,000 and $150,000 of AGI. Thus, if your income exceeds $150,000, the loss cannot be deducted; it is carried forward until the home is sold or there are gains from other activities that can be used to offset the loss.

When figuring the personal use days, include days used by an owner, co-owner, or family member of the owner/co-owner as well as days used under a reciprocal arrangement. However, you can exclude “fix-up” days, which are days spent repairing and maintaining the property.

Word of Caution – Beginning in 2013, passive rental income is subject to the new 3.8% tax on net investment income that is part of the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”). So if the net result from renting the home is a profit, in addition to being subject to regular tax, the profit will also be subject to the net investment income tax. The gain from the sale of your primary home (in excess of the allowable home gain exclusion) and the gain from the sale of your second home (even if you never had rental income from it) are also subject to the 3.8% tax on net investment income in addition to the capital gains tax.

A number of other rules apply to special situations not covered here. If you have questions about how the vacation rental rules will apply to your unique circumstances, please give this office a call.

Tax Tips for Newlyweds

This time year is popular for weddings. So if you are a newlywed there are some important issues that need be taken care of – after the honeymoon. Now that you are married, your tax filing status has changed, and there are a number of steps you’ll need to take, to make a smooth transition into married life, such as…

Notify the Social Security Administration – It’s important that your name and Social Security number match on your next tax return, so if you’ve taken on a new name, report the change to the Social Security Administration. File Form SS-5 is the Application for a Social Security Card. This form is available on SSA’s website at www.ssa.gov, by calling 800-772-1213, or by visiting a local SSA office. Failure to complete this simple step could lead to delays in processing your tax return for 2013 and, assuming you have a refund coming, delay the refund.

Notify the IRS if you move – It is important for the IRS to have your current address since they may send you some correspondence, and if the correspondence is not dealt with promptly, it can make it significantly more difficult to deal with the matter. Plus, the IRS will meet its legal responsibilities of notifying you by sending the correspondence to your last known address. That’s why it is so important to keep your address current with the agency. Use IRS Form 8822, the Change of Address form, to update the IRS of your address change.

Notify your employer of any change of address – If one or both of you are using a new address, it is important that your employer have the updated address information. This will help to ensure that you receive your Form W-2, the Wage and Tax Statement, after the end of the year. It also ensures that you receive important pension plan and health care notices from your employer which will affect your benefits.

Both working? If you and your spouse both work, you should check the amount of federal income tax withheld from your pay, and revise one or both of your Forms W-4, Employees Withholding Allowance Certificate, if necessary. Your combined incomes may move you into a higher tax bracket and your expected refund could be substantially reduced; or even worse, you could end up owing tax when you were expecting a refund. Adjusting your withholding now could prevent an unwanted surprise when you file your 2013 tax return next year.

Filing status has changed – Even if you were married on the last day of the year, you must either file a joint return or file as married separately for the entire year. There are many situations in taxes where the benefits afforded to joint filers are less than those of two single filers, and that could increase your tax liability. It may be appropriate, especially for higher income individuals, to project their taxes for 2013 so withholding adjustments can be made and there are not any shocks at tax time. Please call if you need assistance.

Itemized or Standard Deductions – If you didn’t qualify to itemize deductions before you were married, that may have changed. You and your spouse may save money by itemizing rather than taking the standard deduction on your tax return. The standard deduction for a married couple filing jointly in 2013 is $12,200. So if you anticipate your deductions will exceed that amount you should begin keeping receipts for items such as medical expenses, charitable contributions, and job-related expenses.

If you need assistance in determining your projected tax liability for 2013 and your refund or tax due, please give this office a call. Also, call if you need assistance preparing new W-4s for your employer(s). Incorrectly prepared W-4s can lead to problems down the road.

Caring for an Elderly or Incapacitated Individual

With individuals living longer, we frequently find ourselves in the position of caregiver for elderly or incapacitated individuals. Whether you’re caring for an incapacitated or elderly spouse, an elderly parent, or even a child, understanding potential tax advantages can relieve some of the financial burden associated with being a caregiver. The following are some tax aspects of taking on the care of an elderly or incapacitated individual.

Dependency exemption – You may be able to claim the cared-for individual as your dependent, thus qualifying for an exemption deduction. To qualify:

• You(1) must provide more than 50% of the individual’s support costs,
• The individual must either live with you or be related,
• The individual must not have gross income in excess of the exemption amount ($3,900 for 2013),
• The individual must not file a joint return for the year (unless neither spouse would have a tax liability if separate returns were filed and the joint return is filed only to claim a refund), and
• The individual must be a U.S. citizen or a resident of the U.S., Canada, or Mexico.

  (1) If the support test can only be met by a group (several children, for example, combining to support a parent), a “multiple support agreement” form can be filed to grant one of the group members the exemption, subject to certain conditions.

Medical expenses – If the cared-for individual qualifies as your dependent or medical dependent (2), you can include any medical expenses you incur for the individual along with your own when determining your medical deduction.

Amounts paid to a nursing home are fully deductible as a medical expense if the principal reason that a person stays at the nursing home is medical in nature, as opposed to custodial or other care. If a person is not in the nursing home principally to receive medical care, only the portion of the fee that is allocable to actual medical care qualifies as a deductible medical expense. However, if the individual is chronically ill(3), all of the individual’s qualified long-term care services, including maintenance or personal care services, are deductible.

(2) A medical dependent is an individual who doesn’t qualify as your dependent only because of the gross income or joint return test; you can still include these medical costs with your own.
(3) A chronically ill individual is one certified by a physician or other licensed healthcare practitioner (e.g., nurse or social worker) as unable to perform, without substantial assistance, at least two activities of daily living for at least 90 days due to a loss of functional capacity, or as requiring substantial supervision for protection due to severe cognitive impairment (e.g., memory loss or disorientation). Of course, a person with Alzheimer’s disease qualifies.

Filing status – If you aren’t married, you may qualify for “head of household” status by virtue of the cared-for individual. If the cared-for individual: (a) lives in your household, (b) you pay more than half of the household costs, (c) the individual qualifies as your dependent, and (d) the individual is a relative, you can claim head of household filing status. If the person you’re caring for is your parent, he or she does not need to live with you as long as you provide more than half of your parent’s household costs and he or she qualifies as your dependent. For example, if a parent is confined to a nursing home and you pay more than half of the cost, you are considered as maintaining the principal home for your parent.

Household employee issues – If you hire individuals to help you care for an elderly or incapacitated individual in your home, you must treat them as employees, issue them a W-2 form, and withhold and remit certain payroll taxes to the IRS and your state. If you use a service company that sends its employees to provide care services, the service company will handle the payroll issue for these employees, relieving you of that responsibility. If you plan to hire help, please call this office to discuss your options in more detail.

Dependent care credit – If the cared-for individual qualifies as your dependent, lives with you, and physically or mentally cannot take care of him or herself, you may qualify for the dependent care credit for costs you incur for this individual’s care to enable you and your spouse to go to work. However, the same expense cannot be used as both a medical expense deduction and for the dependent care credit.

If you experience financial difficulties in funding the care, the tax code provides some specialized relief as described below. Generally, these forms of relief should be considered only when no other reasonable alternatives exist.

Reverse mortgage as alternative to nursing home – It is often desirable for an elderly person to remain in his or her own home with proper in-home care rather than entering a nursing home. A reverse mortgage loan may make this a feasible alternative to a nursing home. If this approach is taken, don’t forget that household help is deductible in the same manner as nursing home expenses. In addition, household employees must be paid by payroll.

Exclusion for payments under life insurance contracts – Any lifetime payments received under a life insurance contract on the life of a person who is either terminally or chronically ill are excluded from gross income. A similar exclusion applies to the sale or assignment of a life insurance contract to a person who regularly buys or takes assignments of such contracts and meets other qualifying standards.

The tax benefits and regulations related to caring for someone are complicated. If you are a caregiver and would like to discuss your situation and options further, please call our office.